Love me Tinder … or not

Oct. 15, 2013

Written by

Natalie Shipley

Contributing Writer

Singles, get ready. The newest dating app is ready to find your new love — or maybe your next creeper.

With the advent of dating apps for iPhone and Android, users have the dating world in the palm of their hands for free with a swipe of a finger.

The latest iPhone app, Tinder, links with a user’s Facebook account, leaving the last name and additional information unknown, such as education, occupation and, surprisingly, current relationship status.

A person’s interests on Facebook — music, movies, sports, etc. — are synced with other Tinder users who share the same interests to give users common ground to spark conversation.

The app is customizable to your dating preferences. Choose the gender you are interested in, choose your distance from one to 100 miles, select an age range from 19 to 50+ that you want to be paired, and you’ll soon see “Congratulations, you have a new match” pop up on your screen.

Tinder finds your exact location and links you to other users in your preferred distance. As soon as possible matches are located, profiles in the form of old fashion Polaroid photos appear on the screen. Under the photo is a name, age and whether shared Facebook interests and mutual friends are found.

If a displayed user is someone you would like to find out more about, the option to view four more photos is available. After investigating the small amount of information provided, swiping the users profile to the left or right casts your final decision. It’s speed dating minus the face-to-face interaction.

In order to finalize a match, someone you have approved has to like you back. Once a mutual interest is found, a notification alerts you and sets up the match in a Tinder chat room. For those who fear rejection, fear no more. If someone you found attractive gives you the boot, they will never know you liked them.

While I may have joined Tinder within minutes of hearing about it, my optimism was short lived.

My experience chatting with matches is laughable. I would receive various messages throughout the week ranging from the common “What’s up?” to “Where are you? I’m in midtown drunk. Come see me.”

I would catch myself about to reply as if I knew these guys on a personal level when I didn’t even know their last name. I had judged men by looking at four photos and shared interests on Facebook irrelevant to myself as an individual.

The final turning point was when I was in the campus Starbucks, scrolling through Tinder. As I looked through the various men, I noticed one of my matches was less than a mile from where I was sitting. I immediately imagined him walking into Starbucks while I was waiting on my drink. The thought made me tense up as I played out different possible Starbucks run-in scenarios. After that, I made the decision to discontinue my Tinder account.

Although this mobile dating app gave me a bad feeling, some of my friends have had positive outcomes.